New Beginnings
by BatFlashAquaven11
Summary: The Titans East visit Jump for some healing help and to discuss a new villain. Is this new villain the real threat, or is it his boss? What will happen when Aqualad begins to develop feelings for Raven? Please give it a chance. Read and Review! I would love to know what you think about the story, writing, and couple, good or bad. Chapter4: Kidnapping
1. Chapter 1

**Soo...I'm back. I wrote teen titans fanfiction when I was in 6th grade and I just read them over and... wow... are they bad.. Like everyone who left positive reviews, I just want you to know that you are a liar. BUT I can't delete them because Aquaven fics are very very limited, so I don't want to limit them even more. But here I am, a freshmen in college, trying my hand at it again. My grammar may not be the best, I haven't taken an english class recently. I'm in another "obsessed with teen titans" phase so here we are...enjoy.**

Bumblebee sighed and closed her communicator.

"That was Robin. Looks like they got it under control," she said to her team. The other four titans visibly deflated and groaned. Cyborg had contacted them earlier, explaining that they were having difficulty defeating Mumbo, who had some new tricks up his sleeve, and may need some help taking him down. Crime has been slow in Steel City for the past month, so the team was ready for a chance to see some action again. They had been waiting anxiously for the call telling them to begin the five hour flight to Jump City. When Bee's communicator had began to ring, the boys had already been making their way to the TE-Ship.

"Damn it. I was hoping for some action!" the red headed archer complained. He dropped his bow and fell back onto the couch.

"Quería ver a la señorita Starfire", both of the twins said simultaneously. They looked at each other and glared. Mas jumped on Menos and they began to fight. A black eyed boy with matching jet black hair took a step back to avoid the brawl, while the team's leader took to the air while rolling her eyes. They were used to these trivial fights by now, but they never lasted very long, and neither of the boys hit very hard, so they usually just let the brothers go at it.

Bumblebee looked to the two elder boys. Speedy was combing his hair while simultaneously flipping through channels on the oversized television. Aqualad was still wearing a neutral expression with a hint of disappointment. He seemed to be getting ready to dive into his pool when all of the sudden an alarm started blaring throughout the tower, accompanied by a flashing red light. Surprised, he looked up and over at the other titans. Mas and Menos, who were on the floor, had stilled and were looking around; Mas was pinned under Menos, who had his fist pulled back ready to hit his brother. It had been over two weeks since the alarm had sounded, and Speedy smiled and threw a fist up in the air.

"Yes! It's about time!" He said while getting up off the couch and making his way to the monitor, along with the other titans, where Bee was already typing in the proper codes. A video came into view of a familiar street, along with an unfamiliar villain causing havoc. The man was large and muscular, with a wicked face, a scar over his left eye, and fire in place of hair. His entire body was covered in flames. He was throwing large balls of fire out of his hands at buildings and cars. Speedy spoke up first:

"Who is this guy?" Bumblebee looked over the rest of the team.

"It doesn't matter, He is attacking the city and our job is to stop him. Let's go!" They all ran towards the car and sped off toward the city.

Fires were burning all along Main Street in downtown Steel City. All the civilians had cleared the area, and after deciding this was a job for the Titans, the police had evacuated also. The unknown villain was shooting fire out of his hands and watching as cars and street signs exploded and burned. He laughed to himself and prepared another ball of fire in his hands. A car pulled up behind him and five teens got out and stood in front of the car, preparing for battle.

"I wouldn't be laughing if I were you, you're about to get booked for arson," Bumblebee said while putting her hands on her hips. Aqualad and Speedy stood to her left and right and slightly behind her with their arms crossed, and the twins were standing to the sides of them. The man turned to look at them and snarled. He seemed to get angry with Bee's comment, as the flames covering his body grew larger and hotter. He let out a yell and threw the fireball towards to the group of teens. They scattered to avoid it, and the ball of flames hit their car, causing it to explode. The Titans looked at it with wide eyes.

"Sparky isn't going to be happy.." Bee said before turning back to the villain. Speedy was already pulling an arrow out and loading his bow.

"Who are you?" He asked the man. The flames on the man died down a bit as he spoke for the first time.

"Just call me Flame" He said in a gravely voice as he gathered another fire ball. The archer rolled his eyes.

"That's not cliché at all" He said sarcastically. Flame got angry and his flames burned brighter once again. Aqualad cut him off before he went on another rampage.

"And what is it you want? The bank is right behind you, and you haven't even tried to take any money. There is nobody here anymore for you to scare. Why are you here?" The villain didn't look at him. He continued staring at Speedy as he replied to the atlantean, who was, unbeknownst to the villain, building up a wall of water behind him.

"Boss' orders." Bumblebee is the one who spoke next.

"And your boss is?" Flame's eyes got darker and he grinned.

"That's for me to know, and you to find out," and then the threw the fireball he had been constructing in his hands. At the same time that this happened, Aqualad released the wall of water. It fell directly onto Flame, who screamed as his flames were extinguished. Aqualad didn't see that the large ball of fire was coming directly towards him until it was too late. His eyes widened and he managed to get his head out of the way, but couldn't stop the flaming mass from colliding with his right shoulder. He shouted out in pain as the force of the impact knocked him off of his feet. He laid on the concrete ground, writhing in pain. Speedy was at his side in an instant.

"Aw, shoot, are you alright, dude?" He asked, kneeling down next to his friend. He winced as he saw the atlantean's injury. The material of his uniform was burned away and the skin covering his shoulder was burned black. The smell of burning flesh filled the air, it was not pleasant whatsoever. Aqualad wasn't the type to let others worry about him, and attempted to sit up.

"I'll be fine. We need to st-"

"Already taken care of," The leader of the group said as she flew over and landed next to the elder boys.

"The twins are making sure Flame gets taken to the cops, and I let the fire department know they have some work to do here." Bee said as she helped Aqualad to his feet.

"It would be much easier if I just-" Bumblebee cut him off once again.

"No, you've done enough. They can handle it. Let's get you back to the tower and see what we can do about that nasty burn." The atlantean knew better than to try to argue with her, and nodded.

After the taxi ride back to the tower, Aqualad was dragged to the med bay by his leader. The twins had fallen asleep on the couch soon after arriving home and Speedy had gone to take a shower and contact Titans West to share information about the new villain. Bumblebee cut the top of his uniform off and threw it in the trash, as it was ruined. Luckily, all of the titans had multiple replacement uniforms. Aqualad winced as she cleaned the wound as best she could, but never complained. It wasn't in his nature to do so. That was one of the personality differences between him and the other older male on the team. Speedy was loud, boastful, and arrogant, while Aqualad preferred to be more reserved and modest. He tended to stay back and watch things happen around him, rather than make himself the center of attention. Although they argue and don't always see eye-to-eye, the boys manage to get along a majority of the time, and see each other as brothers. Bee finished cleaning the burn but her face showed that she wasn't pleased.

"This is pretty bad, you're going to be out for a few weeks until this heals," She told him. His eyes widened and he tried to protest as Speedy walked in.

"Just talked to Boy Blunder, he wants us to head over to Jump to discuss Flame. Said they've never dealt with him before," He looked over at Aqualad, "I mentioned that you took a hit, and he said Raven can take care of it. Did you know Raven had healing powers? Cuz I didn't know Raven had healing powers." At the mention of the empath's name, Aqualad looked down at his hands and blushed. He shook his head and cleared his thoughts, hoping nobody had noticed. Speedy hadn't, which was a blessing. Unfortunately for him, Bumblebee had. Luckily, she was the lesser of the two evils. She gave him a knowing look and then smirked, all while wrapping his shoulder in gauze.

"Alright, Speedy, go wake up the twins and tell them to pack up. They can sleep on the way there. You go pack too, and _please_ only back the things you _really_ need. Aqualad, first go put a shirt on, then pack too. I'll get a bag ready and then get the ship ready. I want to be out of here within the hour. Let's move!"

Aqualad got down off the bed and made his way to his room. He winced as he one-handedly put a new uniform on. He packed a bag and made his way to the ship, where his teammates were waiting. He had so many thoughts running through his head and didn't know what to make of them. Luckily, He has a five hour flight to think things over.

' _Why am I so nervous to see Raven? We've been friends for years. I mean, yeah, I saw her without her hood a couple times and she's very attractive...but Starfire is attractive, and I don't get this feeling if I think about her. What is going on with me?'_

 **Don't forget to review please! I'm going to try my best to update as much as I can while I am in between semesters!**


	2. Chapter 2

**This is probably the longest chapter I have ever written in my life. I put a lot of time and effort into it so please please please review if you read it! Whether it is good or bad, I would love some feedback. I appreciate both my reviews on the first chapter, and they gave me constructive criticism which I think is great and I appreciate!**

Once arriving in Jump City, the team quickly traveled the rest of the way to the Titans Main tower. Bumblebee, who was driving, expertly maneuvered the ship to land on the designated circle on the roof. Just as the team was exiting the aircraft, the door to the roof opened and Cyborg came out with a huge smile on his face.

"Hey guys," He greeted, "How was the flight?"

"Same as always: long, boring, but relatively painless," Bumblebee replied with a smirk as she flew down from the ship to meet Cyborg.

"Speak for yourself," Aqualad chimed in as he began climbing down from the ship, all the while trying his best not the strain his shoulder. Too impatient to wait for the ladder, Speedy jumped down from his seat and started stretching his legs as he glared at his leader.

"It was like she was trying to hit all the turbulence that she possibly could," Speedy said to his former leader. Cyborg laughed and looked around, noticing two members of the team had yet to come out of the ship.

"Where are the little guys?" He asked, looking at Bumblebee. Almost as if on queue, two groans were heard and all four of the titans on the roof looked up to the last pod. Struggling to sit up, Menos appeared first. His skin was tinted green and he looked to be extremely nauseous. He looked down at his brother.

"Estamos aquí. Tienes que levantarte," He said to Mas, who was still slumped on the seat. Menos grabbed his brother by the arm and pulled him up. Mas was also a sickly shade of green and looked moments away from being sick.

"No me siento bien," Mas groaned. The boys held on to each other like their lives depended on it, and, slowly for once, made their way out of the ship. Cyborg looked down at them, a concerned look gracing his features.

"What's the matter guys?" He asked.

"El viaje en avión era muy duro" Menos said, and left it at that.

"Well, you guys can go lie down and you should feel better soon. You two will be in the guest bedroom across the hall from Beast Boy's room," Cyborg told them. They both nodded simultaneously.

"Gracias, Señor Cyborg," and with that, they left. The half robot turned to the rest of the teens.

"Alright, Robin is waiting for you guys in the living room. Dude's very impatient, so I'll go drop your bags off in guest rooms while you guys head down there," Cyborg instructed while picking up all five bags with one hand. He opened the door and walked through it, and then popped his head back out sheepishly.

"Oh, we may have forgot to mention that the AC is broken.." He was met with a chorus of groans. With a nervous laugh, he added, "Don't worry guys, it's next on my list to fix. I'll get right on it as soon as I put these bags away! Shouldn't take me more than half an hour," And with that he left, and the rest of the Titans East entered the building. They noticed right away that it was significantly hotter inside the tower than it was outside. It was late October, and the weather outside was very mild, no warmer than sixty-five degrees fahrenheit. Inside the tower, however, it had to be around eighty. The team began to make their way down the stairs. Once they reached the proper floor, the sliding door opened to reveal the Titans living room.

The only occupants of said room were Robin, who was looking over files by the computer, and Raven, who was sitting on the couch, book in hand. The sound of the door sliding open caused Robin to look up. He immediately stood and walked over to them.

"Hey guys, good to see you," He greeted pleasantly with a small smile. Then his expression became more serious as he got straight to business.

"I've been searching every database available online for this guy, and haven't found much of anything. There's no record of any "Flame" in any Federal Prison databases. I even did some hacking and accessed the restricted files. Still got nothing," Robin said. Surprisingly, He didn't seem all that frustrated. Knowing him, He was excited to have an excuse to do extensive research over a villain.

"Tell me everything you know about him. Start at the very beginning. I need to know what he looked like, his powers, his purpose, his-,"

"Robin, we just handed him over the the police a few hours ago. I'm sure they will question him and post some information soon," Speedy interrupted.

"But-" Robin tried to protest, but the archer cut him off once again.

"Before we start gossiping over bad guys, can you help out our fish-loving friend here?" He said, gesturing to Aqualad. The Atlantean sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head with the hand attached to his good arm. Robin looked confused for a minute, before realization hit him.

"Oh, that's right! I totally forgot about that, I didn't even ask her," Now it was Robin's turn to look sheepish. He turned and shouted across the room, "Hey Raven, are you up to heal someone? It's not too serious; shouldn't take long at all." Upon hearing her name, the violet haired empath looked over and stared for a moment, as she had been completely zoned out of their conversation. She quickly read the situation and smirked as she closed her book.

"What's the matter? Did some girl hurt your ego, Speedy?" She said, standing up and beginning to walk toward the group. Due to the heat, she had decided to forgo her cloak, and was only wearing her leotard. Her comment forced a smirk from the remaining Titans, and the sight of her body in only the thin material forced a similar expression from the red-head. His masked eyes looked over her body as she walked towards him.

"Only you, Babe. You can kiss it better any time you want," Speedy said, still smirking. Raven rolled her eyes and ignored him. Since defeating Trigon, she had matured and has almost complete control over emotions, so comments like that don't really bother her anymore. If he would have tried something like that six months ago, he would've ended up in another dimension. And he had. Multiple times. She was much more open and confident now. Expelling her father from her life had truly changed her for the better.

Aqualad eyes widened and his friend's comment. He had a weird, unpleasant feeling in his chest, and wasn't sure what to make of it.

" _Am I jealous? Is that what this feeling is?"_ He thought to himself. " _She really does look good. C'mon Garth, stop looking. It's rude to stare,"_ He was pulled out of his thoughts and his eyes were pulled away from Raven's body by Bumblebee's voice.

"Actually, Aqualad is the injured one. Poor guy took on a flying ball of fire and lost," She told the sorceress. Raven looked over at the black-eyed boy and gave him a questioning look.

"And here I thought water was supposed to beat fire" She said, only being slightly sarcastic. Aqualad's only reply was another guilty look, followed by a small laugh.

"Well, you're not wrong," He smiled at her.

"I never am," She said with a wink, "Come with me to the med bay and I'll see what I can do."

Aqualad's eyes widened for what felt like the tenth time that day. " _Did she just wink at me?! Raven, wink?! And why did it make my heart feel so light?"_ He was once again pulled out of his thoughts by someone speaking, only this time it was Speedy.

"Wait, I wanna go! I want to see these healing powers in action!" He started to follow the two, but was abruptly stopped by a hand grabbing him by the ear. Not surprisingly, the hand belonged to his leader.

"No, you need to stay down here and help us investigate this villain. With the amount of stupid things you do in battle, I'm sure you will get your chance to get healed some day soon. You can see them up close and personal then," She told him firmly. He sat down at the table, grumbling to himself. Aqualad and Raven left and headed to the medical lab. It wasn't really imperative that they go there, but it wouldn't hurt to go to the most sanitary room in the tower when dealing with an open wound. Raven opened the door and turned on the light and gestured for the Atlantean to sit on one of the two beds. Everything in the room was either white or sterling silver.

While Raven was washing her hands, she turned to look at the injured boy. They had been friends for a few years, since they met him that day while fighting Trident. He was one of the Titans that she trusted the most and it was easy to have a conversation with him. He was a very smart, polite, and strong guy, and of course he was good looking. Even before she was free from Trigon, she wouldn't have been able to deny that she found the Atlantean attractive. She didn't think much of it though, because honestly, who didn't? He met her gaze and she realized that she had been caught staring, and quickly made conversation before he could say anything.

"So, uh, where is this injury?" She asked him. She grabbed a clean towel and started drying her hands. He continued to watch her, and simply used his good hand to point to his shoulder.

"You're going to have to take the top half of your uniform off so I can reach the injury," She said, slightly blushing. When she woke up this morning, she had no clue she was going to be touching a half-naked Atlantean- not that she was complaining.

"Yeah, sure," Aqualad blushed, thinking to himself: " _Good thing it wasn't Speedy that was injured, he would offer to take off the bottom half too."_ He began to remove the skin tight shirt, which turned out to be much more difficult than he anticipated. Raven walked over to the bed, smiling slightly.

"Uhm, need some help?" She asked.

" _Wow, she is beautiful when she smiles. I've seen her smile more already today than any other time I've seen her,"_ Then he remembered that she had asked him a question, and also that he was literally stuck in his own shirt. He blushed again.

"Yeah, I think I do," He admitted and laughed. She grabbed the nylon material and helped him maneuver his arm out of it as painlessly as possible. She made a point of not looking at his bare chest, and immediately began to unwrap the bandages on his shoulder to get to the burn. Aqualad glanced down and saw that it didn't look any better than before, but it had only been a few hours, so he hadn't really been expecting it to. Raven instructed him to lie down on the bed and to stay still. As he maneuvered into the new position, it was impossible for Raven not to notice the way his muscles flexed and rippled under his skin. It was obvious that he was built and toned even with his uniform on, but without it, there was literally nothing left to the imagination. Her eyes were glued to his washboard abs as he moved to lie down. Once he was ready, he noticed her staring. He smiled to himself. After a few seconds, he waved a hand in front of her face to get her attention. This did the trick to break her trance and she turned her head and blushed, wishing she had her cloak on so she could put up her hood.

"I'm ready," Aqualad said, still smiling to himself.

" _Raven was just checking me out,"_ he thought.

" _I just drooled over Aqualad right in front of him. He must think I'm so creepy,"_ Raven thought to herself, mortified. Being a master of emotions, she put the feeling aside and returned to the task at hand. She looked down at the injury.

"That looked like it hurt," She commented. He laughed a short laugh and replied,

"It hurt much worse on the way here; don't listen to what Bee says, she not the best at flying a ship. It was like she was hitting potholes in the sky," They both laughed. He couldn't help but notice that he liked it when she laughed.

"Give me two minutes and it won't hurt at all anymore,"she said as her left hand started to glow a light blue. Right before it made contact with his skin, he spoke up, causing her to pause.

"Wait, Raven, is this going to hurt?" He asked nervously. She shook her head and gave him a reassuring look.

"Not at all, nothing to worry about," The empath promised, and her hand began to glow once again. This time he didn't stop her. Her hand touched his burnt skin and the relief was instantaneous. He let out a breathe he didn't know he had been holding and closed his eyes. She could feel him relax under her touch. It was a new feeling, that was for sure. He couldn't find words to describe the feeling of skin forming back together within seconds. He didn't even realize it was over until her hand left his shoulder. All he could think about was how he wanted her to touch him again. He opened his eyes and saw that she was handing him his uniform top. He smiled and and accepted it, but didn't put it on right away, He stood up off the bed and walked over to the mirror on the other side of the room. He examined his skin where the ugly wound was not five minutes earlier. His eyes widened and he turned to look at her.

"Not even a scar. I'm impressed," He told her. He put his uniform top on and walked over to Raven, who had yet to say anything. He stopped in front of her and looked her in the eyes.

" _I never noticed that her eyes were purple. I've never seen anyone with purple eyes before. She just keeps surprising me,"_ He thought to himself. Then he got a crazy, possibly suicidal idea.

"This is incredible. You're incredible," and without a second thought, he leaned down and placed a light kiss on the girl's cheek. He stood up straight again, smiled at her shocked expression, and made sure to brush against her shoulder on his way out the door. Once he left, She turned to look at the door that he just walked out of, and brought a hand up the touch her cheek. She chose to ignore the sound of a glass cabinet breaking on the other side of the med bay.

 **Please PLEASE Please take 30 seconds and leave a review for me! Also, can someone answer this question: Is "Titans" supposed to be capitalized or not? Like as in "the other three titans".**


	3. Chapter 3

**Short chapter, I know. I really am hoping to get review numbers up. The lack of interest is kinda bringing down my morale :/**

A short while later, seven of the ten Titans were gathered in the living room. Mas and Menos were still in bed, resting. The sliding doors swished opened and the last teen entered the room and began to make his way over to the group.

"Alright y'all, the AC should be back up and running at maximum efficiency!" Cyborg proudly told the others. The air in the tower was already about ten degrees cooler than it had been just minutes before. A few of the Titans smiled and cheered while Beast Boy offered his best friend a high-five. Bumblebee decided now was as good of a moment as ever to deliver the news. She rubbed the back of her head and nervously walked up to the half-robot.

"Well, since you are done with that project, how about starting a new one. We kinda need a new T-car," She suggested. The smile fell from his face and his eye's widened.

"What happened to the one I just built for you guys?! It hasn't even been a month!" He yelled. He had spent hundreds of hours crafting that car for them; it was so nice, it could _almost_ be compared to his "baby". _Almost._ Speedy stepped forward and was next to speak up.

"Hey man, it wasn't her fault. It-," Cyborg cut him off, looking at him accusingly.

"It was you, wasn't it?! I told you to be careful driving her! You drive so reckle-"

"Uh, Cyborg? You might want to take a look at this." That was Robin. He had requested the surveillance footage from the security cameras outside the bank in Steel City. Cyborg was still grumbling to himself as he directed his attention to the video on the screen. It showed the five members of the Titans East, and the villain, Flame. Suddenly, Flame threw a fireball, and Cyborg just silently watched as his creation was blown to smithereens.

"Son of a bi-," He stopped himself, then turned back to Bumblebee and Speedy, who were glaring at him with their arms crossed over their chests, and gave them a apologetic look.

"My bad." They seemed to accepted this as an apology, because both of their expressions lightened as they gave him a pat on the back. Bumblebee was the one to speak next.

"So, how about that new car?" She looked at him hopefully while nudging him in his titanium chest with her elbow. He sighed, knowing he didn't have much of a choice.

"I'll start working on it tomorrow." The dark-skinned women and the redhead both cheered.

The eight teens were sitting around the table as they discussed the new villain. It was mostly the two leaders talking, while everyone else just listened. Robin continued to throw question after question at Bumblebee, and she fired back with the best response she could, given the lack of information on the suspect. Suddenly, an obnoxious ringing could be heard coming from the Titans East leader. She pulled out a small cell phone. It was only to be used for the authorities to contact the Titans. Robin carried a similar one with him at all times.

"See Robin, the police probably just finished up questioning Flame and are about to give us all the information we will need," She said, accepting the call and bringing the phone up to her ear. Robin seemed to visibly relax, if just a bit. That is, until he caught wind of Bumblebee's conversation.

"Good afternoon Sir, any infor- Wait, what?...Are you serious?!... No, we are all the way in Jump City!... He probably got out of town. We will be on the lookout. Bye." With that she hung up the phone, obviously irritated. She closed her eyes and massaged her temple, all while shaking her head back and forth slowly. Then she reopened her eyes, took a deep breathe, and addressed the other seven Titans in the room.

"He escaped." Everybody's eyes widened in shock. He had only been captured hours ago, and he had already managed to get out? This guy wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"But how? How did the Flame escape?" An orange-skinned alien asked her dark-skinned friend. Beast Boy spoke up also..

"Yeah, you guys said Aqualad burned him out!" All the Titans looked up at the winged women expectantly, awaiting an explanation.

"The police chief said that he didn't do it on his own; somebody on the outside helped him escape. He was being kept in a temporary cell before questioning, when someone used explosives to blow a hole into the side of the concrete wall, which allowed Flame to escape. Then somebody threw a knockout gas bomb into the jail, which knocked out all the guards. They had no chance to follow him or see where he went." Bumblebee explained.

"You said he may have left the city. What makes you think that?" Robin questioned.

"They had all units searching the city for him, couldn't find a single lead. He left without a trace."

"What do we do now? Go back to Steel?" Aqualad asked his leader. He was hoping with all his heart that she would say no. His mind was too infatuated with a certain empath to leave just yet. Bumblebee thought for a moment before giving an answer.

"We know he isn't in Steel, so it wouldn't make sense for us to go back there. He could be anywhere in the country. I think our best bet is to stay here for now." She stated, looking at the other leader. Robin nodded his head in agreement. It was settled, Titans East would be staying in Jump City for a while.

Speedy was engaged in a conversation with Robin, discussing their various weapons and brainstorming ideas for future improvements. Aqualad was sitting next to Robin, watching Beast Boy and Cyborg play a fighting game on the Game Station; he was due to play the winner. Speedy caught a glimpse of something just past Robin, and looked around the spiky-haired hero to confirm his finding. The tag of Aqualad's uniform top was sticking out.

"Uh, bud, you do realize your uniform top is inside out, right?" Speedy pointed out to his teammate. Aqualad looked away from the game and to the archer, and noticed that the redhead was talking to him. He looked down to examine his uniform, and what he saw confirmed his friend's comment. Both sides of the outfit were nearly identical, so it was very hard to tell, but the skin-tight shirt was indeed inside-out. The only way to tell was because the tag was exposed. Aqualad didn't seem too concerned about it, and shrugged.

"I must have put it on the wrong way after Raven healed me," He said as his cheeks turned a slight pink color as he remembered his encounter with the dark girl. Robin heard what he said and confusion flashed across his face.

"Wait, why did you take your shirt off?" He asked the Atlantean. Now it was Aqualad's turn to be slightly confused.

"Uh, so she could heal my shoulder?" Aqualad didn't know where he was going with this.

"Um, Raven's healing powers work through clothes. I've seen her do it on multiple occasions. In fact, she usually insists that all clothes are left on." Robin explained. Speedy couldn't help but smirk.

"Oh," That was all Aqualad said.

' _Oh. Ohhhhh. Maybe she really is interested in me.'_ He thought to himself as a small smile took over his face. He turned his head to locate the sorceress, and found her in front of one of the enormous window panes. She had her eyes closed and was seated with her legs crossed, however she floating in the air as she silently meditated. He couldn't help but notice how peaceful she looked. His eyes stayed glued on her as his smile grew slightly bigger and his expression looked almost dreamy. Robin and Speedy both looked at their friend, then to one another. They exchanged a knowing look followed by a smirk, before returning to their previous conversation.

 _ **Abandoned warehouse in Jump City**_

Two mysterious figures stood in a dimly lit room, illuminated only by a single light bulb. The shorter of the two men looked nervous, waiting for the other man to address him. The other man was facing away from the other when he finally spoke.

"I thought I told you not to get caught," The taller man said sternly, "Your incompetence has messed up the entire plan! I told you to capture the other group of Titans, and you failed to do only did I have to waste my time and energy getting you out of jail before you were questioned and inevitably spilled everything, but now the two Titans teams have combined and will undoubtedly be working together. You have made this much more difficult." The other man audibly swallowed and took a step back.

"I didn't mean-" He was cut off as the other man swiftly turned and glared at the smaller man. His black and copper mask gleamed in the dim light.

"I'll tell you what," Slade began, "Since I am feeling rather generous today, I'll give you a second chance." He pulled a match out of his pocket and struck it against a wall. The small flame from the match created just as much light as the light bulb. He slowly crossed the short distance between him and the other man. Without warning, he touched the flame to the man's skin, and the man's entire body burst into flames instantaneously. He did not even flinch.

"Listen carefully, Flame. Here is your mission..."

 **Review please! Let me know what you would like to see and what you do and don't like! I would greatly appreciate it!**


	4. Chapter 4

**This chapter was very difficult to write. I had no motivation what so ever. But, it's done. It took five hours, but it's done. Enjoy.**

It was a few days later, and the Titans had yet to uncover any new information about Flame. The team leaders spent the majority of each day searching for leads. Bumblebee mentioned that Flame had revealed that he was working for someone, and Robin, as always, was convinced it was Slade. Once that boy had Slade on his mind, it was hard to get him to come around. Every few hours, Cyborg and Starfire would try to convince them to take a break. On the fifth try, they reluctantly agreed. Both teams decided to go to the park for a picnic. After a few minutes of gathering supplies and throwing them into a basket, they headed off to the park.

Weather-wise, it was a very pleasant day outside. It wasn't too hot or too cold, the sun was shining, and the wind was blowing just slightly. Bumblebee got busy unfolding the multiple blankets they had packed, and spreading them out under a large, shady tree. Cyborg and Beast Boy were manning the grills; the former cooking enough hamburgers for nine, while the latter was grilling tofu-hotdogs for himself. The others had already began to let loose and enjoy themselves. Starfire was chasing Mas and Menos in what appeared to be a game of tag that she was destined to lose. Raven sat down on the blanket underneath the tree. She opened up the book that she had brought along and began to read.

Robin, Speedy, and Aqualad were spread out in the open field in the center of the park, throwing a frisbee between them. Of course, any activity involving three incredibly competitive superheroes was bound to be anything but casual. Each throw led to an attempt from one boy to outshine the others. They were making impressive leaps, flips, and dives while catching the flying disk, and perfectly sticking the landing every time. They would make it more difficult for each other by throwing the frisbee farther, faster, or higher. A small crowd of citizens had even gathered to watch. Afterall, it wasn't every day that they got see their heroes out and about, and it was even rarer to get to see the Titans East on this side of the country.

"Hey girl, we really owe you for healing Aqualad the other day," Bumblebee said, taking a seat on the blanket next to Raven. The violet-eyed girl looked up from her book and turned her head to face her friend.

"It was no problem." She replied before returning her attention back to the pages in front of her. Bee wasn't going to let the conversation die that easily.

"Really, you're a lifesaver. I was not in the mood to argue with that boy about sitting out for a while. I'm no doctor, but I doubt it would've been a good idea for him to be in the water a lot with that injury. That would've been like taking Speedy's hairbrush; I don't know if he would survive without it," She said jokingly and smiled at her. Raven returned the smile and closed her book. She looked out into the field and watched the three boys run around for a while. Robin released the plastic disk with a flick of his wrist, but her eyes were glued on the boy who was attempting to catch it. She watched intently as he chased after it, leapt into the air, reached an arm out and made a stellar grab. The crowd cheered and applauded his efforts. He just smiled, waved, and turned to throw it to Speedy. Bumblebee, ever observant, didn't miss the way the girl was looking at the Atlantean, and smirked. She thought for a moment about what she would say next. One thing she missed from her time as an undercover agent at the HIVE academy, was the boy gossip. Villains have crushes and silly drama too, who knew? She loved to know people's business and would often be caught meddling in other's personal lives. Raven was about to experience this first hand.

"So...do you think he is cute?" She asked. The half-demon's face dropped immediately and she looked back to Bee with a neutral expression.

"We are not having this conversation," She said reaching to pick her book back up. Bumblebee wasn't going to let this opportunity end without giving her teammate a little help. She could tell that the Atlantean was interested in the empath. It was obvious for a self-proclaimed love expert, such as herself. She grabbed the book right out of Raven's hands. Raven was surprised and a little annoyed, but didn't have time to say anything, as Bee was already talking again.

"Girl, he has barely been able to take his eyes off you since we got here! He blushes every time someone even mentions your name! Those are sure signs that a guy is into someone- Into you!" Raven's eyebrows rose in surprise and she looked down at her lap while a blush forced it's way onto her cheeks. She couldn't ignore the fluttering feeling she felt in her chest, but it became heavy as soon as she noticed the scene in front of her. About thirty yards away, Aqualad stood with his back to the Titans, engaged in a conversation with two attractive blondes. They were both obnoxiously laughing at something he must have said. Both of them were very close to him, one touching a lock of his jet black hair, while the other kept trying to stroke his toned chest. Raven looked away.

"Yeah, he sure seems to be interested in me." She said in her old monotone voice, grabbing her book back from Bee. Bumblebee looked over to her teammate and spotted the two girls and the look she directed towards them could only be described as lethal.

 **Two Minutes Earlier**

On the other side of the field, Aqualad was focused on the frisbee that Speedy had just launched.. He was running as fast as he could, trying to catch it before it hit the ground. He was completely oblivious to the crowd that he was nearing, until Robin yelled for him to watch out. He looked up and saw that he was about to run into the group of people, and metaphorically hit the brakes, skidding to a stop in the grass. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath before walking through the crowd to retrieve the plastic disk. All of the sudden, two blonde girls were in front of him. They were wearing matching outfits: very short pink shorts, white midriff tops, and white flip-flops. They were also both sporting large, fashionable sunglasses; one had them pushed up into her hair, while the other wore them over her eyes. She took a step forward, and eyed him from over her sunglasses before grinning.

"Oh. My. Gosh. Mary, you were totally right! It's Aqualad!" She screeched. The Atlantean flinched as both girls squealed in delight. The other girl ran up to him and tried to touch his chest. His eyes widened and he instinctively backed up, trying to get her hands off of his body. She followed.

"I told you it was him, Carrie! I knew it! He is even more perfect in person!" Aqualad felt a tug on her hair and saw that the first girl, Carrie, had grabbed it. He had dealt with fangirls before, but this was a little much.

"So, I take it you girls have heard of me..." The girls responded by laughing extremely loudly.

' _That wasn't even funny..."_ He thought to himself before looking overtop the girls and making eye contact with Robin, who had wandered over to retrieve the frisbee. He silently conveyed his distress to the Boy Wonder, who seemed to understand. He ran over to Cyborg, who proceeded to yell out that the food was ready. Aqualad used this as an excuse to escape the girls, much to their dismay. Speedy was sure to send the duo a wink on his way over to the blankets, which seemed to cheer them up. All in a day's work for a teenage heartthrob.

 **OOOOO**

The Titans were all sitting down with their food, scattered on the blankets that Bumblebee had put down earlier. Beast Boy swallowed his bite of tofu before remembering something he had seen earlier. He yelled over to Aqualad.

"Hey dude, I get that every girl in America thinks that your dreamy, but two at once? That's impressive. And unfair. You mind sharing?" A few of the Titans laughed, while Aqualad looked slightly uncomfortable. Everyone looked at him, waiting to hear his response.

"Uh, yeah, go for it. I'm not interested. Those girls, uh, aren't my type." He catches himself thinking about the resident empath once again, and smiles to himself. He looks over at her, only to see her looking at him. Their eyes meet for just a moment, before she blushes and looks away. Bumblebee nudges Raven in the side with her elbow and shoots her a knowing look. Raven tried to respond with a glare, but it ends up being a small smile. Robin, Speedy, and Cyborg all exchange smirks, while the others are still oblivious to what is brewing between two of their teammates. The heroes continue to eat their food and enjoy each other's company, as well as engage in occasional conversation.

The atmosphere remained peaceful and relaxed when all of the sudden, there was a loud, bright, explosion. All the Titans stopped eating and looked in the direction that it came from, while quickly making their way to their feet. Standing there, next to what used to be a bench, was Flame. His entire body was burning and he didn't waste a moment, forming another ball of flames and throwing it at the group of teens. They all scattered. Beast Boy and the girls took the sky, while Mas y Menos quickly joined hands and used their speed to avoid the projectile. The remaining boys quickly jumped out of its path, and the fireball continued traveling until it connected with the tree they had been sitting under just moments before. It exploded, throwing pieces of bark everywhere. Raven used her powers to put an energy shield between the Titans and the flaming debris. Then they all turned their attention back toward their blazing enemy.

"So, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that you're Flame," Beast Boy said, followed by a high-pitched shriek as a fireball was hurled his way. He managed to duck just in time.

"What was your first clue?" Speedy replied, his words dripping in sarcasm. He didn't have his bow with him, and he felt somewhat defenseless. Sure, he had some hand-to-hand combat training, but how was that going to help him against a man that was quite literally on fire?

"What do you want? Who are you working for?" Robin asked, his tone indicating that he wasn't messing around. He had some disks in his hand, ready to throw them at the villain. Mas and Menos ran towards the villain, and then began circling him at lightning speed, attempting to disorient him. However, the wind they created only caused his flames to grow larger. Bumblebee called them off. Raven said her mantra, encased a park bench in black energy, and through it at the man. He threw a fireball at it before it reached him, and it exploded. She put an energy shield up to protect herself. Flame threw a larger fireball towards her, and it collided with the shield, which protected her from the fire, but the impact sent her flying through the air. She hit the ground a few yards behind the rest of the Titans. Starfire took the the sky and her eyes glowed lime green. Cyborg charged his sonic cannon, and on Robin's signal, they all attacked. Starfire threw a barrage of starbolts at the villain. Cyborg aimed and fired his sonic cannon. Beast Boy, in the form of an elephant, had collected water from the small pond in his trunk and was showering the flaming figure, while Aqualad directed the flow of several fire hydrants toward him also. Robin threw three freezing disks, similar to how he had been throwing the frisbee earlier, and they hit all their target. All the Titans waited in silence for the smoke to clear, and were pleased with what they saw. Flame had once again been extinguished, and his entire body from the neck down was trapped in ice. Yet, he was smiling. No, he was laughing. The Titans looked at each other, all of them confused. Beast Boy scratched his head and raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, dude, we just kicked your butt. Why are you laughing?" This just caused the frozen man to laugh harder. Cyborg was next to speak.

"Yo, we get that you're crazy, but you lost. Most bad guys don't think it's very funny when their plan fails." All of the titans had their attention on the, possibly insane villain. Flame finally stopped laughing, but gave the group a sickening smile.

"Who said that I failed?" He started laughing again. Suddenly, Starfire gasped and shouted, getting the team's attention. They turned and saw her flying at full speed towards towards a familiar figure in a black and copper mask. He was holding a girl by the upper arm, and she appeared to be unconscious. This was confirmed by the dart sticking out of the side of neck.

"Raven!" Aqualad yelled, his voice full of concern.

' _If he hurts her, I swear to Poseidon I'll-'_ His thoughts were cut off.

"Slade!" Robin yelled, springing into action. He ran towards Slade as fast as he could. Starfire was going to beat him there. She had been gathering starbolts in her hands, and threw one towards the villain, but just before it could hit him, he held up a remote control with his other hand and pressed the only button. Both him and Raven disappeared into thin air.

 **What does Slade want with Raven? You'll find out sooner if you leave a review ;)**

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	5. Chapter 5

**Alrighty, here's the next chapter! Sorry it took a little while, I was traveling back home to Cincinnati and didn't have internet. I want to try to get this entire story done before I leave to go back to my dorm and start classes again (I go to THE Ohio State University, in case anyone was wondering), so hopefully that will happen. I'm not sure when the next update will be, some time in the next few days. I don't really have a plan, I have just been writing this as I go, and I have a list of ideas and things I want in it, and I just go off of that. I'm banking on another 1 or 2 chapters after this one. Hope you enjoy this one!**

All the Titans stood, stunned, looking at the spot that their friend had just been. She had just disappeared into thin air. They all looked around at one another, confusion conveyed on their faces.

"Dude...where did she go?" Beast Boy asked. In his voice you could hear his concern and curiosity.

"¡El hombre malo la tomó!" Mas yelled. He and Menos were holding on to each other even tighter than usual.

"¿Donde se la llevó?" Menos asked, and both boys looked up to their older companions. Robin turned to his metal friend

"Cyborg, see if you can get a lock on her location," Robin said, his tone suggesting that there was no room for argument, not that their would be anyway. Cyborg loved Raven like a sister, and wanted to keep her safe more than anything. Without a word, he nodded and began pressing buttons on his arm. Aqualad stayed quiet, but his mind was running a mile a minute.

' _Where could he have taken her? Why her? What does he want? We have to go find her! I need to find her, I need to see her again, I need to tell her how I feel! Wait, how I feel? This isn't the time for that! The girl I have a crush on just got kidnapped by an evil psychopath! I just need to put those thoughts in the back of my head until she is safe again. Now, why are we still here?'_

"We have to find her!" Aqualad shouted, and began to run. He didn't know where he was going, but he knew that she wasn't where they were, so it made sense to look somewhere else, anywhere else. Part of his mind told him that this wasn't a good strategy, that he should stop and think of logical places that Slade could've taken her. The other part of his brain was telling him he had to find her right this moment, and that he couldn't waste even a second. He was pulled out his thoughts when he looked up and saw a figure descend in front of him, successfully blocking his path. He skidded to a stop and met eyes with the obstruction. Bumblebee gave him a sympathetic look and stepped towards him.

"Garth, you need to calm down. You don't even know where to look. Don't worry, we're gonna find her." Her unusual soft expression surprised him, as did the use of his real name. They only referred to each other by their actual names when they really wanted the other to listen. He took a moment, as if reading her. It was as if something clicked, and he began listening to the more logical part of his brain. His face fell and he let out a breathe he didn't know he had been holding. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and without even turning to look, he knew that it was Speedy. The three were pulled out of the team moment by their former leader's announcement.

"I got a lock! According to my scanners, Slade took her to the abandoned warehouse by the docks!" He yelled.

"That's all the way on the other side of the city; let's get moving!" Robin yelled, and they rest of the Titans sprang into action, eager to find their stolen teammate. They were so worried about their missing friend that they forgot about the villain they had trapped in ice.

 **OOOOO**

It was cold. That was the first thing Raven noticed when she woke. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around, taking in her surroundings. It was a dim, spacious room, the walls and floor made of concrete. There was one light bulb, but it barely made a difference. She was sitting down, her back leaning against one of the walls. She felt a pain on her neck, and reached a hand up to examine the area. While doing this, she noticed that her wrists were in cuffs, connected to chains. She pulled out what looked like a dart from her neck.

' _This must have been what knocked me out,"_ she thought. She turned the pointed object over in her hands, examining it, before tossing it aside. She noticed a hard black band around her ankle. She momentarily wondered what it was, but then returned her attention to the chains on her wrists. She followed them for their entire length, about two feet, and found that they were connected to the wall she was leaning against. She conjured some magic to break the chains, but the moment the energy appeared, she screamed. She banished the magic and breathed heavy for a moment, eyes wide.

' _Did I just get electrocuted?'_ She tried breaking the chains on her own, but it was no use.

' _Okay, stay calm. You'll be fine. Your friends are probably already on their way. Just wait here until they come. They will get you out of this, and then you can go home, make some tea, and talk to Aqualad some more. Wait, what?! Raven, this is not the time to be thinking about a guy!"_

She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. As she continued struggling, she heard a door open. She immediately looked up, only to be greeted by the Titans greatest foe. He eyes immediately narrowed.

" _Slade._ I should've known you'd be behind this," She snarled at him, giving him her best death glare. Usually, being on the other end of this look would send its recipient running, but the masked man remained indifferent. It was at this moment Raven noticed her cloak was missing. How intimidating could a tiny girl in a leotard really be? It also didn't help that she was chained to a wall.

"Hello to you too, Raven. Long time no see," He replied, walking towards her slowly. She just continued to glare at him.

"What do you want?"

"Now Raven, why so hostile? If I recall correctly, I did help save your life last time we met." She could tell that he was smirking underneath the mask, and it infuriated her. She stood up and took a step towards the villain, only to be stopped by the chains around her wrists.

"I've said it before, I was surprised when I learned of the power that you possess. With Trigon gone, I'm willing to bet that you are even more powerful," he raised a clenched fist and took a few more steps toward the girl, "and I am planning to exploit it." He finished, leaning in so his face was inches from hers, knowing she couldn't attack him due to her constrained arms. She shook with anger.

"I'll never help you!" He took a step back, unsurprised.

"I was counting on that, which is why I will not be giving you a choice," He said darkly.

"You'll notice the device around your ankle. It is designed to give you a significant electric shock if you attempt to use your powers." Raven looked back to the band on her ankle. She reached down and tried to break it, but Slade just chuckled at struggles. Not a cheery laugh, this was Slade we are talking about. It was a dark, sinister laugh; a sound you wouldn't hear from someone that was completely sane.

"You see, my original plan involved capturing your friends in New York, so they would be unavailable to assist you. But due to my...assistant's..incompetence, we had a change of plans. The end result still remains the same: I will have your powers." Raven looked at the man in disbelief for a moment before rolling her eyes.

"And _how_ do you plan on doing that? If you think that I am just going to give you my powers, you are even crazier than I thought," She said. She would've had her arms crossed if she could, but the restraints did not allow it.

"Let's just say that I have been working on something," He replied with a passing glance to the other side of the room. Raven followed his gaze and her eyes widened at what she saw. It was large machine with a tall glass cylinder, filled with wires. She wasn't sure how it worked, but based on what he had just been talking about, she was sure it was meant to transfer her power to him.

' _I don't have time to wait for the others. I need to get out of here.'_ She thought. Her mind immediately went to formulating a plan. She looked down at the cuffs enclosed around her thin wrists.

' _First, I need to get these chains off."_

Slade had turned and began to walk toward the machine. He was halfway to the door when he was startled by a semi-muffled scream. Slade immediately turned back to the girl, only to see her on her hands and knees. Her teeth were clenched, and she was shaking, trying to catch her breathe and regain her composure. He noticed that her chains were no longer attached to her wrists. She had suffered the electrocution in order to use her magic to break them. The moment she regained her composure enough to open her eyes, she was greeted with a hard kick to the ribs, courtesy of Slade's steel toed boots. The force of the blow sent her small body propelling into the wall. She hit it with a hard thud. Using the wall as leverage, she slowly pulled herself to her feet. She put her fists up and bent her knees slightly, preparing to fight. She knew that without her powers, she was no match for Slade, but she wasn't going to let this psychopath take her powers without a fight. Slade slowly shook his head.

"When are you going to learn?" He asked rhetorically. With a yell, he ran towards Raven and threw a punch, which she managed to dodge. However, she wasn't quick enough for the next one, which caught her on the jaw. Momentarily stunned by the blow, she wasn't able to defend herself from another attack, this one a fist to the stomach. She doubled over, and her knees shook under her weight. Slade showed her no mercy, and delivered another kick to the ribs. This time, she felt and well as heard the snapping of one of her ribs. The sound of breaking bone echoed in the empty room, followed by her shout of pain as she collapsed. She didn't try to get up, but remained unmoving on the ground. Her face was screwed up in agony. She opened her eyes slightly just in time to see her enemy preparing to kick her again. She was unable to do anything to stop it, and it collided with her rib cage again, and the sound of another splintering bone reverberated through the room. She screamed out as she felt her skin tear, the bone breaking though. Slade stopped and watched the girl writhe in pain for a moment, before reaching down grasping the collar of her uniform with one hand. He easily pulled her limp form up so she was eye-to-eye with him. Her uniform was torn and bloodstained, and her face still conveyed the amount of pain she was in. He paid it no attention, shaking her once to get her to open her eyes.

"Have you had enough?" He asked. All was silent for a few tense seconds. She closed her eyes and lowered her head, and Slade took this as a sign of defeat. He smiled menacingly under his mask, though it did not last long. Her eyes snapped open, glowing pure white, as her capture was slammed with a large sum of her dark energy. He collided with the wall on the other side of the room and fell to the ground. Unable to support herself, she crumpled to the ground. All of the sudden, her body exploded with even more pain than before. As the electricity coursed through her body, she felt as if she was burning from the inside. Pained noises escaped from behind her clenched teeth and her eyes were squeezed shut. The overwhelming pain became too much; her thoughts became fuzzy as she began losing consciousness. The pain died down after a few moments, but she remained unmoving, attempting to remain awake. She didn't notice that Slade had recovered and was fuming, quickly covering the distance between them. He grabbed her by the hair and roughly yanked her up into the air again.

"I'm gonna make you regret that, kid." He said. She was too weak to protest. Without another word, he slammed her skull into the concrete wall. She was unconscious before she could even comprehend what was going on.

"Not so sassy now." He dragged her over the the machine, placing her inside a large, glass, vertical tube. He spent the next few minutes connecting the wires and needles to her body, before stepping back and exiting the tube. He sealed the door and made his way over to the controls. Just as he was preparing to pull the lever that would begin extracting her powers, there was a loud explosion from the far side ceiling. When the dust and smoke cleared, there was a large hole in the roof. Suddenly, nine figures descended from it. Raven's eyes fluttered at the sound of the explosion, but she kept them closed. Her head was throbbing and her thoughts were cloudy, but she was able to make out a voice. She recognized it as her leader.

"Where is she?!" Robin yelled, masked eyes narrowed furiously. This wasn't the first time Slade had come after Raven, and he was not amused whatsoever. Although he would defend any member of his team, something about his mental bond with Raven caused him to be extra protective of her.

Behind Robin stood the Atlantean of the group. He was looking around frantically, trying to find her. When he finally noticed the glass tube, and saw that she was in it, his eyes widened.

"Raven!"

At the sound of his voice, her eyes opened. Their eyes met, and through one look he could tell the pain that the girl was in, while she could feel his anger and worry. She tried to give him a weak smile to let him know that she was okay, but he could see the pain behind it. He took off towards her in a sprint, while the rest of the Titans ran towards Slade as Robin yelled, "Titans, Go!"

Just as the words left the Boy Wonder's mouth, Slade quickly turned back to the controls and pulled the lever. Everything seemed to stop as the room was filled with the girl's scream.

 **Oh snap, what's gonna happen!? Let me know what you think will happen! Also, let me know what part you liked and didn't like! I would really appreciate it! Now, I have to start preparing for the Fiesta Bowl tomorrow! Go Bucks!**

 **REVIEW! (Please)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry this took so long, I got distracted with other ideas! Then my next semester of college started, so I've been a little busy. I didn't bother proof reading this, so hopefully it's not too bad. Hope you enjoy.**

Immediately, the Titans burst into action. Robin led the attack, sprinting towards Slade and leaping into the air. Just as he was about to land a kick to the villain's face, he grabbed Robin's ankle. Robin shouted in surprise as he was propelled across the room and collided with Starfire. Slade barely had a second to ready himself before he had to dodge an arrow heading for his chest. The arrow lodged in the wall behind him. He looked to the redheaded archer and chuckled.

"You missed." He taunted. Speedy stood with his arms crossed and smirked. The arrow behind Slade began beeping rapidly and flashing red.

"I never miss."

On que, the arrow exploded, sending debris from the wall falling everywhere. Smoke surrounded the masked villain and he coughed, having difficulty breathing and seeing.. As soon as the smoke cleared enough for him to see, he was greeted by the sight of a green rhino charging at him. Beast Boy hit in full force and sent him flying across the room.

As soon as Slade had pulled the lever, Aqualad had ran straight to the girl in the machine. Her teeth were clenched, trying to muffle her screams of pain. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her body was shaking uncontrollably and the machine began to pull energy from her.

"Raven! I'm going to get you out, just hold on!" He shouted, hoping she could hear him. He reached for the door handle, hoping it would miraculously open and the small girl's suffering would come to an end. Of course, that wasn't the case. As soon as he made contact with the handle, a jolt of electricity strong enough to knock him back coursed through his body. He let out a shout as he flew back a few feet and landed on his back. A primitive sound escaped his throat in anger as he ran back towards the glass tube. Every second she was in pain added to his anger. He reached the tube and was was preparing a punch that would break the glass when a deep voice stopped him.

"Aqualad, stop!"

He turned his head slowly to his right to the control panel of the machine, where Cyborg was typing away rapidly. He sent the metal teen a look of confusion mixed with desperation.

"Just give me a few more seconds, we have to shut down the machine first! It's the safest way!" He told the Atlantean. The black-eyed boy looked between the girl writhing in pain in front of him as machines attempted to strip her of her power. He was about to ignore Cyborg's order when he felt a hand much smaller than his own surround his fist. He turned to see it was his leader. She offered him a sympathetic look as she slowly lowered his fist down.

A few seconds passed but it felt like hours to the Atlantean. Finally, Cyborg managed to get it shut down and turned to give them the okay. Raven's screams ceased, and that was almost more worrisome. She was completely silent and limp in the container. Aqualad immediately pulled the handle, which was no longer electrically charged and with his anger and enhanced strength, he pulled the glass door completely off it's hinges. He let it fly without a second thought and stepped into the tube with the violet-haired girl. His heart felt as though it was in his throat as he dropped to his knees and pulled her to his chest. Even now he couldn't help but think she was beautiful. Bumblebee followed him in and got to work quickly but gently pulling all of the wires and needles from the injured girl's body.

A few feet away, Slade landed a perfectly timed kick to separate Mas y Menos, sending them flying to opposite ends of the room. Speedy was laying on the ground, having sustained some sort of injury. Beast Boy morphed into a fly and stuck up on Slade as he dodged few starbolts, and when he got close enough, he changed into a chipmunk and began running around the villain's body, distracting him. This gave a chance for Robin to land a good hit to Slade with his bo-staff. Robin didn't let up, but Slade managed to recover from one hit fairly quickly and land a punch of his own, knocking the Boy Wonder flying back. He took this break in the action to run towards his machine. Before anyone realized his target, he was already almost there. None of the Titans could react in time to stop him from reaching his target. With a yell, he pulled his fist back and leapt at the two Titans on the ground. Aqualad looked away from the girl in his arms just in time to see Slade mere feet from them. His eyes widened in surprised and he instinctively tightened his grip on her. He turned his body slightly to protect her from the villain's attack. But the attack never came.

The other Titans witnessed as a ball of fire came from the hole that Titans had entered from earlier. The fireball collided with Slade and sent him flying. All the Titans stood in shock and let their eyes follow the path that it came from. Standing in the opening was a very angry man, who just happened to be on fire.

"Flame?" Bumblebee said in surprise. No response was given as Flame jumped down and immediately began walking towards Slade, who was slowly picking himself off the ground. Each step Flame took left a smoking foot-shaped burn on the ground.

"What are you doing?!" Slade yelled, anger evident in his voice.

"I'm done working for you. Did you just plan on leaving me there until the cops came?" He sent another fireball from only feet away. This one his Slade directly in the chest and sent him flying through the wall and outside. Robin, Bumblebee, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg all ran to the new hole in the wall. All they could see was cold, unrelenting waters of the Pacific Ocean. Slade was nowhere to be seen. Silently they all began to turn around, but were startled by Starfire's gasp.

"The Flame! He is gone!" She was right, he had disappeared.

"We'll worry about him later." Robin said as he ran over to Raven and Aqualad, Cyborg in tow. Bumblebee and Beast Boy went to help Speedy, who was still unable to walk. Starfire and the twins took off for the tower to prepare the Med Bay.

"How is she?" Robin said, kneeling on the opposite side of her. He put a gloved hand on her arm. She didn't react to the touch. Aqualad still held her limp body in his arms.

"She hasn't moved since Cyborg stopped the machine. She definitely has a few broken ribs. I think maybe a concussion too, there is a knot on the back of her head," He told the Titan's leader, never once taking his eyes off of her face.

"What is that on her ankle?" Cyborg pointed out the black device. It hadn't even caught Aqualad's eyes.

"I don't know but it can't be good. I'll see what I can do," Robin said as he pulled a screwdriver from his utility belt and probing the anklet, "Cyborg, go get the car. We need to get her and Speedy home. Now."

"I'm on it," and with one last look at the girl he considered her little sister, he left to fetch the car. Robin made quick work of the device and managed to get it off of her in about a minute.

"You got her?" Robin asked Aqualad, who nodded. The leader lightly squeezed Raven's arm before standing and going to check on Speedy. They feared he was going to have some torn ligaments in his right knee. It was swollen up almost double it's normal size, but they didn't think anything was broken. Luckily, Raven can heal ligaments, unlike bones. Of course, she would need to heal herself first.

Aqualad moved to readjust his grip on her small form before standing up. As he moved, her eyes began to flutter. He immediately stilled and looked at her intently. He lent down and spoke softly to her.

"Raven? It's me, it's Garth- er, um, Aqualad. Are you awake? I need you to be okay. I need you to open your eyes for me. You have such pretty eyes and I need to see them again. Soon, okay? I need to talk to you again and tell you all the things I haven't told you..I don't know where all these feelings came from but I don't care, I have so many things to tell you but first I need you to-"

He stopped talking as her eyes fluttered open and he saw her bright violet eyes.

"Hi..." She whispered, trying her best to smile at him. Her voice was hoarse from screaming earlier, but it sounded like music to Aqualad's ears. His face lit up and he let out a breath of relief. He brought a hand up to brush a strand of hair from her paler-than-usual face. Their eyes never left each others. The moment was ruined by his leader shouting that the car waiting for them. He looked over to see Robin and Cyborg helping Speedy into the front seat. He stood up and carried Raven to the car, where he got into the back seat with Beast Boy. He looked down at her and noticed that she had passed out again.

 **Yeah so I never proof read this so sorry for mistakes. There will be one more chapter after this one, hopefully will be up sometime this weekend. Hope you liked this.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Yeah yeah so I know its been like 3 months for me to get this final chapter out but college has got me busy...so anyway sorry that this is rushed and very short but I just wanted to give y'all an ending.**

The first thing she became aware of was the steady beeping of the heart rate monitor. She opened her eyes and gave them a moment to adjust to the bright lights of the medbay. She sat up slowly, noticing that her ribs had been set and had healed properly. She looked around the room and saw Aqualad slumped in a chair beside her, sleeping silently. She moved to sit on the edge of the bed with her legs hanging off the side before reaching over and gently shaking his shoulder. He awoke with a start.

"Who-What- Raven! You're awake!" He exclaimed, jumping up from the chair; not holding back his excitement whatsoever.

"I am..Garth," She said, watching his reaction to decipher if it was okay of her to used his real name. For a moment, his gleeful expression flickered in confusion, before realization dawned on him and his face became very sheepish. He brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck and blushed slightly as he asked:

"So, you heard that, huh?" Raven nodded, the corner of her lips turning up in a small smile. Garth send her a smile too.

"That's alright, It's not really a secret anyway. Did, uh...Did you hear anything else?" He asked, avoiding eye contact with the beautiful sorceress.

"Garth...I heard everything."

The Atlantean looked at her to gauge her expression and was met with violet eyes much closer than they had previously been, but they soon closed as her lips collided with his own. His eyes followed suit and closed and he reached a hand to cup the smooth skin of her cheek. One of her hand rested on his chest while the other was around his neck, pulling him closer. When they broke apart, they were both beaming. Garth was the first to recover.

"So, I take it my feelings are mutual?" He said with a smirk. She just rolled her eyes and kissed him again. This time it was interrupted by the only other occupant of the room, whom both of them had failed to notice.

"Uh, guys, hate to interrupt a good makeout sesh, but what about me?! Torn ACL over here!"

The two broke apart again, Raven glaring at the archer, while Aqualad laughed.

"Perhaps you should help him, that is, if you are up to it. Don't push yourself too much, you were just passed out in a hospital bed not five minutes ago," Garth said, voicing his concern. Raven leaned up and placed a small kiss on the Atlantean's cheek.

"I'll be fine," She assured him softly. She began to cross the room to Speedy when she noticed his hand reaching for his belt, to give her access to the injury. She quickly stopped him.

"...Leave your pants on."

 **Yeah...that's the end. I had a few ideas I wanted in the ending but my notes on my phone got deleted somehow before I got around to writing it, so I lost all my ideas. Anyway, let me know what you think!**


End file.
